How To Create Great Friendships

What Makes A Great Friend?

I'm sure we've all had "that friend" who turned out to be not quite as great as we'd hoped they would be, and we ask ourselves what went wrong? To have a good friend let you down, or betray your trust, or just not be there when you expected them to be, is one of life's biggest disappointments. When we invest time and emotion into creating a friendship, only to have it go pear shaped, it kills us a little bit inside.

How To Die Without Regrets

The Five Regrets of the Dying

Bronnie Ware was a pallative care nurse who discovered there were five regrets that were common to those she cared for in their last days. She wrote a book about these five regrets in 2009 and they've woken a lot of us up to the fact that life is short and we don't want to be at the end of our days regretting what we could have fixed in the years leading up to that point.

Can We Have More Than One Burning Passion?

Do We Need A "Burning Passion"?

I've read many, many articles on "finding your passion" that tell me that my life is not complete unless I find something that I am completely passionate about. I think there is a lot to be said for swapping the word "passionate" with the word "enthusiastic". That way you can embrace lot of different experiences without being consumed by just one.

How Do You Know If You're Parenting Well?

How Do We Know If We're Parenting Well?

We all see that social media highlight reel of the perfect family every time we look at Instagram or Facebook - and ours never seems to measure up. Does that mean we aren't doing well at this whole parenting gig? Not at all - I think there's so much more to successful parenting than a pretty picture or two. Ultimately it comes back to each individual family unit as to how you measure whether you feel like you're doing a good job.

What Is The Real Purpose Of Life?

What Should Our Purpose In Life Be?

Do you sometimes wonder what the purpose of your life is? We see so many people out there sharing their highlight reels on social media and we get caught in the "compare and despair" trap. It can feel like we're not exciting enough, or doing enough, or happy enough. But, is being constantly happy what life is all about?

About Walled Garden Of The Soul

WHY A WALLED GARDEN FOR THE SOUL?

I woke up recently to a deeper understanding of life. I've lived many decades with my self worth being based on how other people responded to me. If they were happy, I was happy.... if they were annoyed, distant, disgruntled, upset, or just plain out of sorts, it affected me too. 

What I've come to see is that I need more secure boundaries - a wall around myself with a gate that allows me to choose who to allow into my private space. I want to create a sense of wholeness and self containment that is solely on my terms, somewhere I feel safe and secure - at peace and at rest. Somewhere "still" where I can be myself and not be tossed and tumbled by the vagrancies of those around me.

I remembered those walled gardens, those secret places....filled with an abundance of cottage flowers, a small pond, a statue, a seat, somewhere quiet to visit to escape the chaos of the world around me. I wanted to create a walled garden for my soul - somewhere beautiful to soak up the stillness and not be visited by the chaos of others.

A WALLED GARDEN FOR  YOU

I hope you visit me in my garden, that you'll sit for a spell in this lovely space. That you'll find peace and rest for your soul too. That what I share here each week will resonate with you and leave you with a little wisdom and warmth to carry with you throughout your day.

Don't let the turmoil around you define how you see yourself, join me in creating a secret walled garden of your own and may peace dwell there with you.